Bait clickers, or alerts, are commonly employed in all types of fishing reels. Without a warning from the bait clicker, a user of a reel with a light drag setting might not otherwise be aware that line is being drawn out either by a fish or because the bait is snagged. This is particularly a problem with today's smoothly and quietly operating reels.
It is known to provide clickers with elements that bear against a gear or the like that is rotated as the line is retrieved. With such conventional structures, generally only fixed "on" and "off" positions can be selected by the user of the reel.
The biggest drawback with the conventional reels is that if the user chooses the "on" position, once a fish is hooked the clicker will continue to operate. The clicker sound is annoying, distracting and in some reel constructions the clicker affects the smoothness of the retrieval mechanism.
To avoid this problem, one must either choose between leaving the clicker in the "off" position and risk that the removal of line might go undetected or releasing the clicker once a fish has been hooked. With the latter option one must stop reeling, hold the rod and reel with one hand and at the same time release the clicker. One thereby risks dropping the rod and reel and/or loosing the fish as the line retrieval is interrupted.